The Boston Red Sox have agreed to a contract with All-Star third baseman Rafael Devers for the 2023 season, thus avoiding the salary arbitration process.Devers, 26, will be paid $17.5 million for the upcoming season, according to multiple reports.He's coming off a season in which he was limited to 141 games by a right hamstring injury, batting .295 with 42 doubles, 27 home runs and 88 runs batted in.Devers was the American League's starting third baseman in each of the last two All-Star Games and has finished in the top 15 of AL Most Valuable Player voting in 2019 (12th), 2021 (11th) and 2022 (14th).Since the start of the 2019 season, he leads the major leagues with 149 doubles and 264 extra-base hits and leads the American League with 591 hits and 1,078 total bases.Multiple reports also indicate that the Red Sox will continue to negotiate with Devers on a multiyear contract extension that would keep the homegrown left-handed slugger from hitting free agency after the 2023 season.The reports of continued negotiations come nearly a month after All-Star shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who played the first 10 seasons of his MLB career with the Red Sox, agreed to join the Sand Diego Padres on an 11-year, $280 million contract after Boston failed to agree to terms with him before and throughout the 2022 season.The Red Sox originally signed Devers as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2013, and he made his major league debut in July 2017.In 689 career games, Devers has a batting average of .283 with 187 doubles, 139 home runs and 455 RBI. He won an American League Silver Slugger award in 2021 and helped Boston win the World Series in 2018.Several members of the Red Sox's 2018 championship team have chosen to sign elsewhere in free agency. While Bogaerts went to the Padres, designated hitter J.D. Martinez signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers while right-handed pitcher Nathan Eovaldi signed with the Texas Rangers.The Red Sox have signed All-Star closer Kenley Jansen and outfielder Masataka Yoshida, a star player in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league. Boston has also reportedly agreed to sign All-Star infielder Justin Turner, formerly of the Dodgers, and two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber.